John Collias (1918-2017) *98

was a Western American painter, illustrator, and commercial artist. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he lived and worked in Boise, Idaho, since the early 1940s and contributed work to the Idaho Statesman, Boise Weekly, Life Magazine, the Gowen Field Beacon, the Allen Noble Boise State Athletic Hall of Fame, the College of Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame, and to the books Sawtooth Tales by Dick D'Easum and John Collias: Round About the Boise Valley. Collias' prolific work spans a number of genres including portraiture, landscape art, wartime military posters, ad and billboard art. He was perhaps best known regionally as the artist behind "A Portrait of A Distinguished Citizen," a weekly portrait feature that ran in the Idaho Statesman from 1963 to 1993. In July 2010, over 225 of Collias’ works were collected in the book John Collias: Round About the Boise Valley, written by the artist’s grandson, journalist Nick Collias, and which featured an introduction by Statesman columnist Tim Woodward and a proclamation by Idaho Governor C.L. Butch Otter. The artist continued to work in Boise and contribute to Boise State and the College of Idaho's respective athletic halls of fame.

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